#3 Arizona State defeated Loyola Marymount 9-5 in the opener of a three-game series Saturday night in front of a crowd of 3,008 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. The Sun Devils improve to 39-9 on the season with the victory.

Brett Wallace drove in four runs and hit a three-run homer of the season to lead the ASU offense. Starting pitcher Mike Leake went six innings, allowing two earned runs with six strikeouts and no walks, to get the win and move to 8-1 on the year. Leake also had an RBI single as the designated hitter in the game.

Tommy Rafferty earned his third save of the season, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

The Lions started the scoring with a two-run homer by Angelo Songco in the first inning, but the Sun Devils answered in the bottom half of the inning with a three-run shot to right by Wallace. It was Wallace's 16th home run of the season, equaling his career high.

ASU added to its lead with two runs in the fourth, with a double by Raoul Torrez and a single by Ryan Sontag. The Devils scored three more in the fifth on RBI singles by Leake and Matt Newman, and Kiel Roling scored on a wild pitch.

After LMU scored a run in the sixth, Wallace hit a sacrifice fly to give ASU another run. The Lions added two runs in the seventh, but that would be all the scoring for the night.

Five Sun Devils had two hits each, as Wallace, Newman, Torrez and Petey Paramore all went 2-for-4 and Sontag was 2-for-3.

The two teams continue their series tomorrow night, with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.